


Seeing Stars

by MedlieRuto (Kitty_Hallows)



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Danganronpa
Genre: M/M, Seeing Stars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:14:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27749575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitty_Hallows/pseuds/MedlieRuto
Summary: Kokichi and Kaito bond over their unusual past. Can they concur the Ultimate Commitment?
Relationships: Momota Kaito/Oma Kokichi
Kudos: 29





	Seeing Stars

Kokichi is out having lunch. He winds up running into Kaito of all people and they spend some time together. They run into Nagito while they’re out. Nagito’s PTSD is triggered, witnessed by Kaito and Kokichi. He runs off in a panic and it makes things awkward for the two having lunch, given the history they share.

That night, Kaito nervously grabs Kokichi’s hand. He is looking away with his head buried in the blankets. Kokichi moves closer, today’s events heavy on his mind. “Not that I mind this or anything, because I’m perfectly happy if you want to just stay like this and pretend you’re already asleep. But, I wouldn’t mind it either if you wanted to turn around and face me.”

Kaito turns around after a moment. Kokichi inches forward and folds his arms against himself so he can fit inside Kaito’s form.

“You wanna talk about it?”

‘It’, meaning, the day both of them thought would be their last. “I was... um...” Kokichi starts. His voice begins to shake. “really, really scared the whole time. Every day of my life, I was terrified that it was going to be my last.” He start to shiver.

“Yeah. I know. I was scared too.” He consoles. Kaito wraps an arm around him for comfort.

Kokichi starts to sob. All the while, Kaito’s holding him close and rubbing his back. His cry suddenly transitions to a laugh. “Got ya! You seriously fell for that?”

Kaito’s eyelids drop. He’s been fooled again by Kokichi’s same dishonest nature.

Kokichi rolls over and drops to Kaito’s side. To his surprise, the irked Kaito remains laying beside him.

“If you don’t know what my tell is by now, then maybe you don’t deserve to know if I’m telling the truth or not. I mean, I am pretty ambitious, you know.”

They share a glance at that remark.

“So, what? You bottled it up?”

“Welllll, I sometimes get the sudden sensation that my past is going to repeat itself.” He states bluntly.

Kaito looks at him.

“But, enough about me. You nearly succumbed to a fever. You hid your symptoms like a cat.”

“There was no point in worrying anyone. There was nothing they could do, and I didn’t want them feeling sorry for me.”

It was true for both boys that they had held back from expressing their pain, leading to an overactive response to certain situations. They ponder this misfortune as they lie awake besides one another, remembering their unforgiving past.

(-•-)Flashback(-•-) 

Kokichi gathers his composure. “No going back, alright?” He says, standing in front of the hydraulic press that would soon end his life.

“Yeah, I know.” Kaito replies. “It’s just...”

“Hey. You have to do this Kaito. So that-“

“I know, I know. So you can get the upper hand and destroy the mastermind, right?”

He goes silent.

“...You guys all wanted to leave here and stay friends, right? Well, that’s impossible for me. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t be friends with anyone here.”

Kaito sighs. “I know, but we’re gonna trick that bastard once and for all, yeah?”

“Yep. Juuuuust like what you guys were training for, with your push-ups and picnics at night.”

Kaito’s expression twists. He’d never told Kokichi about meeting up with the others at night to train.

“Just, tell them what happened when you get out of here.”

“Obviously. But why are you so worried about that?”

“Let’s get on with it, before we blow our cover.”

“Are you sure you’re ready?” He asks Kokichi. “We don’t have to do this.”

“Easy for you to say. Give me your jacket.”

Kaito walks up, wraps his coat around Kokichi. He had some look of worry in his eyes for the other boy as he draped one sleeve around his shoulder.

“So, this is it. I’m... a little glad it was you who’s with me as I’m about to go through with this.” Kokichi says shyly as he looks up into the eyes of the shaky boy standing in front of him.

“Yeah well-“ he starts, but catches something before he finishes his sentence. “Hey, that was a lie, wasn’t it?”

“Ni-hehe, ya caught me!” His expression goes sinister. “But, it’s too late for you to have figured it out. Knowing my tell is of no use to you now.”

“Your ‘tell’? What are you talking about?”

“Oh, so you didn’t even realize it just then. Wow, you must just have really good instincts.” Kokichi says to him in his childish voice.

“C-can you stop already? Christ, this is serious!”

“Hey. I’m the sacrifice here, you know.” He climbs inside the hydraulic chamber and lays down, casually stretching his hands behind his head. “Besides, I wouldn’t want to be friends with you guys anyway.”

 _There it is again..._ Kaito had a strange feeling in his gut that something was off.

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean, you better tell them you’re sick when this whole ordeal is said and done.”

“That doesn’t- how do you know about that?!”

“You’re not being fair to your picnic sunshine rainbow buddies by not letting them on to your condition, you know. Once they can actually do something to help, you’d better let them help you. Consider that my last request.”

“Tch. You... you don’t make any sense to me.”

“That’s a lie. You’re starting to understand me. I never would have let things get this far if I weren’t able to die right here and now, you know. But, maybe there really was some truth in me being grateful that I’m here with you. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I enjoy your company or anything.” Kokichi claims.

“Right. How could I assume something like that?”

His grin causes Kokichi to lose his composure for but a moment before he continues.

“It’s that I’m the only one who would agree to work with you like this, isn’t it?”

“You don’t think I could talk that idiot robot or that sly detective into this scheme? Because I could. But I didn’t have to talk you into this.“

“I know you keep saying you’re not thrilled about my company, but I’m not exactly thrilled to about to end your life you know.”

“Don’t you see?” He continues, missing everything Kaito had just said to him. “This is everything the mastermind _wouldn’t_ have wanted. No motive, and nothing to lose. You and me, Kaito, we can sacrifice ourselves and we’ll have gotten what we wanted in the end. I’m going to defeat the mastermind. And I’m going to carry that through death all the way until that bastard gets what he deserves.”

“You have quite a lot of ambition for someone with no morals.”

“Ouchhh, Kaito. You might as well just pull the lever now. At least then my death will be instantaneous.”

“I-I’m just sayin’ I don’t get why you want to win this game so badly.”

“We could spin stories all day long, but there won’t be a point in us getting to know each other any better in a moment from now.”

“I think there’s more to it than you just wanting to come out on top.”

“You would think that.”

“Yeah but right now, YOU’RE supposed to be me. And... I’m supposed to be you, hidden inside an Exisal. So, you owe it to me for going through with this plan. Tell me why you want to create this ultimate, unsolvable case. Why do you want to outsmart the mastermind if you’re just going to be dead for it anyway?”

Kokichi takes a long breath. “If I tell you, will you pull the lever when I’m done? This is starting to take a toll on me you know.”

Kaito gulps. It was going to happen one way or another. “Yeah. Alright.”

“The reason I want to outsmart the mastermind so badly is because... it’s all to entertain the ultimate detective by giving him such an unsolvable case to play with.”

“Huh?!”

“Kidding, that was a lie.” He smirks.

Kaito’s unamused.

“It’s just in my nature to be the ruler of the world I’m in. If that means ‘my world’ is the outside world, then that’s what I rule over. And if it’s in Monokuma’s made up world that I’m living in, I’ll rule that too. ‘If you threw me to the wolves, I would come back leading the pack’- or whatever. You get the jist. I was born with the kind of personality that won’t let me achieve anything less than being on top. You should at least understand that. We’re all ultimates here, after all.”

“And that’s it?”

“That’s all there is to it. This is all for personal gain.”

Kaito saw it, for sure this time. Kokichi typically darts his eyes when he’s talking, but, just now...

Without another thought he pulls the lever. Any longer and he knew he couldn’t have done it. The press slowly comes down, and squashes Kokichi to death.

...is what was supposed to happen, anyway. 

(-•-)Current Time(-•-) 

“Never in my lifetime would I have fathomed I’d connect with someone like you.”

And yet they lie together in bed and connect over their broken past. No motive, no strings attached.

They wind up talking in bed for hours, being open with one another. Topless, changing positions and rolling over one another as they talk. And, somehow, Kokichi’s spilling his life to this uplifting lunatic. This cute, shirtless, motivating, crazy boy across from him.

“Do you want to go into space with me?” Kaito asks out of no where.

“That is a huge commitment. And you want me to decide on a whim? You’re talking about literally spending the rest of our lives together, with no means of backing out, in some metal hunk of junk hurdling through space at a hundred miles an hour. And you want me to go with you? Are you out of your mind?!”

“Look, you’ve got twenty-four hours to make your choice. I’ve already made mine, the rest is up to you”

“I don’t think you really understand what you’re asking me.”

“I understand. I’m going to space. I’m going to live my dream. Whether you come with me or not, I’ll already have everything I’ve ever asked for.”

Kokichi takes a deep breath.

“I really couldn’t think of anyone else I’d rather have to keep me company. Sure, I’ll have transmissions from my ‘flying hunk of metal hurdling through the sky’...”

“But?”

“But I think I could never get bored with you. I think we would probably fight sometimes, but those fights would lead us to a better understanding of how we fit together.”

“I just, I really don’t understand your line of thinking.”

“I know! That’s exactly what I’m trying to say. We could spend forever trying to understand one another, and there would still be things we don’t know or understand. We could keep each other entertained by puzzling over our wildly different personalities. And all the while, I could have you in my arms. I could feel your breath against my ear through every thrilling step of the way.”

“For the rest of our lives. And I have to make that call before you leave by the end of tomorrow.”

“I’m not saying it isn’t a huge commitment. Your heart would probably be pounding out of your chest as you step past the threshold... as the gates begin to close, and the door to the rest of lives closes permanently.”

Kokichi was so sure he was over his fear, and now he’s being asked to put himself in a situation where he cannot escape.

“Just think about it.”

“Why would I do that?!”

“Well, it’s just a guess but, because you haven’t said ‘no’ yet.”

Why hadn’t he? This is Kaito’s dream. He wasn’t going to tell him that he has to stay on earth just so they could be together. So that they could leave their futures open-ended and still spend it with one another. He wasn’t going to tell Kaito to close the door on his future just for him. But no matter how much Kokichi considers closing the door on his own future, he cannot fathom what his life would be like from that point forward. Maybe it’s because Kaito was right, and it would add that element of the unpredictable to their day-to-day lives.

Whatever the reason, Kaito’s convinced; Kokichi’s the only suitable companion for his trip, and he would otherwise go this journey alone. Kaito’s had a full year to think on that. Hell, he’s probably even thought about it before he was approved for the mission.

Kokichi wonders what he would choose if he had that kind of time to decide. To live for one year on a planet he’ll never see again. What does it matter at that point if he’ll have to abandon everything? One day or one year, he’ll be leaving with regrets, with loose ties, with the fact that he’s leaving everyone he loves and cares about and will never see them again. When you think about it like that, it really doesn’t matter how much time has passed. The end result will still be the same. He just wasn’t sure if he could make that sacrifice.

Why was he even entertaining the idea? For the first time the word ‘no’ comes to mind, finally stopping his train of thought.

He gets out of bed in the morning, walks outside and down the street with ‘no’ in his head.

And he approaches Kaito’s door, ready to say goodbye.

And he watches Kaito open the door, fearlessness in his eyes, with full confidence in the choice he’s made.

Kokichi visibly gulps.

“So? Have you thought about what I asked?” Kaito asks, nonchalant.

“How could I possibly think about anything else, even if I wanted to?” Kokichi combats.

“So, what’s your answer?”

_No._

“Yes”

Kaito finally shows some expression. He’s curious, and shocked.

They stand in silence for what feels like forever. _This is what I want? This anxiousness and uncertainty and..._ Kokichi stood there with his mouth agape, like he’s trying to force the words out but can’t. He tries to say ‘no’, but his brain malfunctions and the signals get mixed up with his heart, pumping a hundred miles a minute.

Kaito’s dropped the mug he was holding. He’s shaking.

“You... you don’t really mean it. ...d-do you?”

The words ‘it was a lie’ flash by, but he bites his tongue. Is it worth the price he pay to explore it? By the time he knows the answer to that, it’s not going to matter.

“I want to... go with you. I want to live a life of captivity of my own free will. I want to spend every day of my life picking you apart until I’ve disassembled your brain and put it back together again because it’s the only way I know how to entertain myself. I... want... to know you so intimately.”

His breath becomes rapid. “God, you’re serious. Are you fucking insane?!”

“What do you think?”

“I think... I’m going to have a lot of time to find the answer to that. I can’t believe you want... you actually...”

“Are you happy?” Kokichi interrupts.

“I’m scared shitless.”

They pause.

“Yeah.” Kokichi finally says. “Me too.”

In the short time it took for him to reply, Kaito’s considered this in a more serious light. “We could burn out and ignite a hundred times. We could hate each other for the rest of our lives. I could fall apart at your hands, and you’re the only one I trust to put me back together in a way I would like.”

They stand in silence for a moment.

“What do you have to lose?” Kaito asks.

“You, if I let you. You think I couldn’t talk you off this ride if I wanted to?” Kokichi says with some confidence. “And instead I’m here letting you talk me into it. That’s a cruel move, you know.”

“Look, we could spin our stories all day, but the bottom line is, I won’t be on this planet much longer for it to matter much. So, are you coming with me?”

**Author's Note:**

> Much appreciation going out to everyone who’s inspired and supported me through this project since I’ve started it!


End file.
